Stuck in the Middle: 7 Resources for Intermediate French Lessons to Get You Unstuck

In the midst of your French growing pains, you may feel forgotten, lost and without resources—so much of language learning seems to be focused towards students at opposite ends of the spectrum. More often than not, intermediate learners are overlooked in favor of beginners and advanced students. Doesn’t anybody understand how you feel?

For beginners, there’s no end to the lesson plans, apps, podcasts and videos out there specifically designed in order to enable you to get a grasp on the basics of a language. But you’re not the baby anymore, so nobody’s lavishing that nurturing attention on you. Boo.

Similarly, for advanced and nearly-fluent French learners, it has never been easier to access reading materials like classic novels, modern books, short stories and dialogue extracts that boost learners to fluent independence. But you’re not quite ready to leave the nest just yet.

The trouble is, what do you do when you’re stuck somewhere in the middle? You’re in an awkward French learning phase—plus, you have your own personal strengths and weaknesses. Nobody seems to address these. They assume all French intermediates are the same, when, in reality, no two are the same.

7 French Lesson Resources to Soothe Your Intermediate Growing Pains

Chances are, if you’re a French learner, you’ll have already come across About.com at some point or another. Did you know, however, that there’s a part of the website specifically tailored towards intermediate learners? There are some great benefits to using this site, which we’re sure will help you in all aspects of your French.

Regular proficiency tests

In order to really improve, you need to consistently test your skills. While language tests aren’t to everyone’s tastes, there’s no denying the fact that they’re useful when trying to pinpoint potential areas of improvement. About.com has a wide range of tests designed with intermediate learners in mind and which will help to flag any problem areas in your comprehension.

Intermediate grammar lessons

French grammar is notoriously tricky and luckily, About.com has it covered! You can focus in on the difference between bon and bien, comparative adverbs and French conjunctions. The content on the site is really top notch and if you’re looking to become seriously knowledgeable about all things grammar-related, this is the place to do it.

Links to current French popular content

Undeniably, the best way in which to learn French is to expose yourself as much as possible to French culture and content. About.com is regularly updated with French content, from news articles to popular videos and websites. Gaining an understanding of French culture whilst improving your language skills has never been so easy!

French pronunciation lessons

We all know the trials and tribulations of developing the difficult French accent and, luckily, About.com is on the case! Breaking words down into their individual parts and focusing in-depth on specific letter formations, the website takes pronunciation very seriously. You’ll have French rolling smoothly off your tongue before you know it!

Based on the best, most authentic French content, FluentU learning courses are aimed towards learning through immersion. Whether you like business videos, movie trailers, French commercials, cartoons, informative documentaries or music videos, there’s something for you to watch! That’s because all the French content here was originally made by native speakers for native speakers. Plus, there are many more benefits to the FluentU learning course.

Covers many, many genres

As we mentioned above, many diverse genres are covered by FluentU videos. If you only have time for a brief lesson, you can take a look at a few French commercials and pick up a load of useful language points. If you’re looking for something longer, there are many longer French videos, packed full of important cultural and linguistic lessons.

One quick look will give you an idea of the diverse content found on FluentU:

Love the thought of learning French with native materials but afraid you won’t understand what’s being said? FluentU brings authentic French videos within reach of any learner. Interactive captions guide you along the way, so you never miss a word.

Whatever you’re looking for, we have it covered.

Translates world videos and content

Love the idea of watching native speakers do their thing, but afraid you won’t understand much of what they’re saying? No worries there. FluentU makes native videos easy to understand with interactive captions, in both French and English. Toggle these on and off as you please. If seeing the subtitles in French or English feels like too much of a crutch, turn them off. If you want to stay in total immersion mode, just turn off the English subtitles.

You can also tap on any word to see a definition, in-context usage examples, audio pronunciation, helpful images and more. For example, if you tap on the word “suit,” then this is what appears on your screen:

Active learning

Don’t stop there, though. Use FluentU to actively practice all the vocabulary in any video through word lists, flashcards, quizzes and fun activities like “fill in the blank.”

As you continue advancing in your French studies, FluentU keeps track of all the grammar and vocabulary that you’ve been learning. It uses your viewed videos and mastered language lessons to recommend more useful videos and give you a 100% personalized experience.

Hearing a native French speaker pronouncing words can be one of the most helpful things when learning a language and elearningfrench.com has a whole archive of audio clips and recordings, designed to help improve your speaking and listening skills. There are multiple topics to choose from, so if you have a specific theme in mind, you can incorporate it into your learning.

Dialogues with full transcription

When we’re still in the learning stage, it can be incredibly useful to back up audio clips with written transcriptions. Not only do tools like these aid pronunciation, but they can also be used at later dates for reading exercises. elearningfrench.com understands the importance of learning aids and supplies transcriptions for many of their recorded dialogues.

Language tests

The importance of continuous testing while you learn can’t be overstressed. Rather than a huge, intimidating exam at the end of the course, elearningfrench.com offers smaller language tests as you go, meaning you can test your comprehension whenever you feel like it with less pressure.

Examples of daily grammar points

The grammar lessons offered through elearningfrench.com are comprehensive and incredibly in-depth, going beyond the basic essentials. There’s always new material being added, too, so if you want to stay ahead of the curve, it’s a great resource to use!

The La Guinguette website is presented entirely in French, so if you want a taster of the types of lessons and contents they offer, it’s an easy way to gain an insight. The intermediate course is focused on precision in language, honing in on grammar and vocabulary points to enable students to get the most out of their learning exercises. There are some really great benefits to the La Guinguette course!

Focused on immersion and native speakers

Like other sites, La Guinguette is founded on the belief that immersion is the best way into a language. Whilst not everyone can live in a French-speaking country, the site is a great alternative to improve comprehension. Taking clips from real French speeches, news articles and cultural articles, the site aims to immerse its students in French culture as much as possible, giving them a good understanding of how grammar rules work in the native tongue.

Regular lessons to reinforce grammar points

Rather than teaching its students rules and moving on to new material, La Guinguette goes back over old material in order to improve comprehension. Reinforcing new information is the best way to learn it by heart and La Guinguette works with this mentality at its heart.

Quick-fire dialogue clips

For the learner who has only a little time on their hands, La Guinguette has a series of quick-fire dialogue clips, designed for maximum comprehension within a short span of time. In the short clips, grammar points and vocabulary are highlighted to maximum effect. Listening to just a few of the dialogues is a great way to keep things ticking in your brain each day.

Contextual notes to aid comprehension

Learning a language as an adult is very different to learning something when you’re a child. Rather than taking things as they are, we tend to need logical explanations in relation to foreign grammar rules and learning points. Luckily, La Guinguette provides contextual explanations around lessons, created in order to provide logical explanations to seemingly tricky language rules.

Michel Thomas is one of the most popular language learning resources out there and it’s not hard to see why. Split into unique, in-depth learning packages, the lesson plans cater to all language learning needs, whilst pushing students to advance to the next level of language comprehension. There are multiple ways to use the Michel Thomas learning methods and many parts to the learning plans.

Visual review resources

As well as focusing on written and audio learning tools, Michel Thomas utilizes visual resources as a way in which to improve in language. In the visual exercises, learners can get to grips more thoroughly with learning points taken from written and audio sources, improving their comprehension at a faster speed.

Interactive computer exercises

As well as the traditional learning methods, Michel Thomas uses a lot of interactive exercises, aimed towards reinforcing intermediate lessons and language points. Crossing from one learning style to another, the course requires its students to apply what they’ve learned in one lesson to other activities, thus ensuring that they have understood everything before moving on.

Vocabulary-focused learning

If you feel stuck in a vocabulary learning rut, there’s nothing to fear! Michel Thomas runs with the understanding that beginner courses are largely filled with the most simplistic language possible and, as a result, can leave learners lacking a little in the vocabulary department. You can pick up many new phrases and terminology and begin to speak like a native.

LangMaster is one of the world’s most comprehensive language learning websites and better yet, is completely free! As well as offering incredibly in-depth learning materials, the site regularly updates its learning dialogues, meaning that there’s always new language material to use and learn from. There are many benefits to choosing to use LangMaster.

Entrance Tests

Whilst this might sound like a terrifying prospect, it’s really nothing to worry about! In order to gauge where its students are coming from, LangMaster opens with an entrance test, after which you’re directed to the most appropriate course for your level. When we learn alone, it can often be difficult to understand our true comprehension, so LangMaster takes away the mystery and helps you in the best way possible!

Recorded by locals

There’s no better way to understand the French language than going directly to the horse’s mouth and luckily, there are thousands of native audio recordings to work through on the website! Hearing the French language from a native, whilst initially a little tricky, will only help you down the line and improve your ability to understand fast French in no time.

Grammatical lessons

Of course, the ability to grasp and master the French grammatical system is something with which we all struggle and it’s something that LangMaster focuses on in detail. Through the carefully structured lesson chapters and exercises, the site runs through many grammar points and, as you go on, covers a lot of rules you never even knew existed!

TV5MONDE takes language comprehension very seriously and, as a result, has tailor-made packages for each level of student. For intermediate learners, there’s a complete set of lessons and learning points, curated with the individual learner in mind and guaranteed to help you to progress to the next level.

Varied content lessons

If you suffer from learning distraction, TV5MONDE is a good site to use. Each lesson is structured around a new topic and learning point and each day, there is something new to be learned. If you ever want to review a lesson, they’re all waiting on the site to be used, making revision and reinforcement incredibly accessible.

Listening/Reading/Writing exercises

The combination of listening, reading and writing might seem old hat but it’s undeniably the most useful way in which to progress with a language. Each topic point is structured within the three learning methods and, moving through each style, your comprehension will only get better.

Option to progress further

If you like the TV5MONDE way and wish to progress with your learning this way, it’s incredibly simple! The site is structured according to level of comprehension and goes right up to B2, or advanced level. Moving forwards has never been so easy and with TV5MONDE, you can find everything you need in one place.

As an intermediate learner, you need never fear.

Don’t feel left out anymore!

There’s a whole empire of learning material directed specifically to your needs and presented at a pace which will suit your level of understanding. It has never been easier to get to grips with the French language on a deeper level.

Before you know it, you’ll be searching for advanced content!

If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn French with real-world videos.

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